Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed Fan
Review: I started this book with great excitement and anticipation at learning more about the Dax hosts and finished it disappointed. The book starts with Ezri telling Vic Fontaine about her past lives, however three of the stories are told from the point of view of a different person. Ezri couldn't possibly know what these people were thinking or feeling. Two of the stories (Emony and Curzon) were told from the viewpoint of familiar Star Trek characters and revealed little about the hosts and much about the Trek characters. I didn't buy this book to find out about them. I feel the authors patronized the readers by telling the stories from the viewpoint of familiar characters, as if they thought we wouldn't enjoy them as much if they didn't. The two best stories (Lela and Audra) were told in the manner in which the book was set up in the beginning, as Ezri relating memories of previous hosts. These two were excellent stories. Tobin's story was nothing more than a bad pun and Jadzia's, although told through her eyes was just plain confusing. I was especially disappointed in Curzon's story as he was talked about so much in the series I was looking forward to having him fleshed out and made real. If the authors had stuck to the original premise set up in the first chapter and told the stories from the point of view of the hosts this would have been an excellent book and we would have come to know the Dax host and learned more about Trills and their society. Overall, I don't recommend this book.
Rating: 
Summary: The Lives of Dax is a great read, with one disappointment
Review: I was enthralled with the stories of Dax's many lives, and was particularly pleased with the interaction between Ezri and Vic that introduced and summarized the set of stories. It was fascinating to see these cameos of Dax's previous hosts, but the one flaw I saw was Curzon Dax's tale, "The Music Between the Notes". It was well written and entertaining, but the view-point was Benjamin Sisko's. Instead of telling the story from Dax's memories, it told the story from Sisko's...which didn't make sense, in the context of Ezri telling Vic of Dax's memories. It is, however, a forgivable flaw, as the book is an excellent read.
Rating:
Summary: The Lives of Dax is a great read, with one disappointment
Review: I was enthralled with the stories of Dax's many lives, and was particularly pleased with the interaction between Ezri and Vic that introduced and summarized the set of stories. It was fascinating to see these cameos of Dax's previous hosts, but the one flaw I saw was Curzon Dax's tale, "The Music Between the Notes". It was well written and entertaining, but the view-point was Benjamin Sisko's. Instead of telling the story from Dax's memories, it told the story from Sisko's...which didn't make sense, in the context of Ezri telling Vic of Dax's memories. It is, however, a forgivable flaw, as the book is an excellent read.
Rating: 
Summary: New insights
Review: Into one of my favorite Star Trek characters. I loved watching Jadzia Dax's character unfold on the series. I truly enjoyed that this anthology allowed me a deeper look into how each life built on the previous, allowing a better understanding of a character I so enjoyed. The stories were all unique and refreshing.
Rating:
Summary: New insights
Review: Into one of my favorite Star Trek characters. I loved watching Jadzia Dax's character unfold on the series. I truly enjoyed that this anthology allowed me a deeper look into how each life built on the previous, allowing a better understanding of a character I so enjoyed. The stories were all unique and refreshing.
Rating:
Summary: Slightly disappointing but a good read...
Review: LELA: Interesting and good story by Kristine Kathryn Rusch about the xenophobic species that the Trill used to be. TOBIN: OK story about a Romulan team boarding Tobin's ship. EMONY: a young Leonard McCoy meets Emony Dax at a gymnastics competition in which his friend is competing. This reveals animosity between the Trill and another race and explains why the Trill did not wish to tell others about their symbiotic nature, thus making everything learnt in TNG's "The Host" OK. Well done, Michael Jan Friedman! AUDRID: Brilliant story told in the format of a letter from Audrid to her daughter explaining the circumstances surrounding Audrid's husband's death. TORIAS: Interesting story about a shuttle flight attempting to reach warp 10 but could have been better. JORAN: The worst story of them all. Difficult to follow and totally uncompelling. CURZON: Fascinating story told through the eyes of a young Ben Sisko watching Curzon Dax handle a very interesting situation. JADZIA: Great story about Jadzia's sister undergoing temporary joining which sees the return of Verad. EZRI: Wonderful story giving us more detail about the circumstances of her joining and featuring a conversation with Vic Fontaine. ALL IN ALL: 9/10
Rating:
Summary: Lives of Dax -- Tales well told!
Review: Lives of Dax had me hooked from the moment that I saw it's cover. The book is an excellent anthology telling stories from each of the different hosts of the symbiont Dax from Star Trek Deep Space. Using the few continuity clues provided from the show the numerous authors weave powerful tales for each of the Dax symbionts. We see many familiar faces in the stories from Vic Fontaine to T'Pau, Dr. McCoy, Christopher Pike and others. These familiar characters help to blend the stories seamlessly into the Trek mythos. The stories were all first rate. I could not pick a favorite story from the bunch. Each of them could easily have made an excellent DS9 episode. Fans of DS9 and Star Trek will find this a must read. Kudos to the authors and editor.
Rating: 
Summary: Horrible
Review: Oh my goodness, what a disappointment! Here I eagerly waited months for the paperback re-released of this book. What a let down to find it was just a series of disjointed, barely interesting stories about Dax---and not even as we know her.
I really like the character, and have always been fascinated by the idea of one person living multiple lives without getting into the strange concept of reincarnation. I expected the stories to be complete tellings of the histories of each character, and how they qualified for that particular symbiont, ending with the death of the character and the transference of the symbiont. But all I got was snatches of what should have been character studies, but which turned out to be anecdotes from the lives of people who had yet to spark my mind or engage my soul. And worse, I've read excellent works by the majority of the contributing writers so know they can do better!
Diane Carey should have written this all by herself. Or Jeri Taylor in the excellent manner of "Pathways". Now that was a wonderful book with great style and loads of action, introspection by each Voyager crew member, and insight for the reader. This book should be rewritten and re-released so that the reader understands that Ezri is a culmination of her past lives and not just Dax holder #9.
Rating:
Summary: Loving the slug inside you
Review: One of the more interesting characters in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is a Trill named Dax. Trills are humanoids who are hosts to slug-like being called a symbiont. In a process called "the joining," Trills have the symbiont implanted and they become not just the person they were, but also a sum of memories that can go back hundreds of years. There were two "Dax" characters in Deep Space Nine, with Jadzia Dax being killed in season 6 and Ezri serving as an emergency host. It's a great honour to be a host, but not everybody is anxious to be one.I've always been fascinated by the Dax character, even when the actresses weren't quite up to the part. The show would occasionally have references to previous hosts through the centuries, and I often wondered what some of their stories might be, especially during the time of the original series and movies. Marco Palmieri shared this feeling, and he decided to create a short story anthology addressing this issue. He gathered some of the big names in Trek fiction and created The Lives of Dax. Each of the previous Dax hosts gets one story, showcasing their personality and a little bit of their history. The stories are pretty good, though none of them are particularly earth-shattering. It's a nice, cozy tome that will bring a bit of nostalgia to any DS9 fan. Some of the more interesting stories take place early in Dax's life, before Trill became acquainted with the outside universe. The first one (not counting the beginning of the framing story) is about Lela Dax, a new member of the Trill council and one of the advocates for opening Trill up for trade with other galactic races. A ship has approached Trill and sent a message that the Trill are having trouble translating. It appears that the ship is in trouble, and they are ignoring all warnings from Trill that they must leave orbit. Lela decides that she has to help, despite what the council says. She discovers, and demonstrates to the rest of the council, that knowledge is not only power, but that the lack of it can be deadly as well. "First Steps" is by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and starts the anthology off with a bang. Once this story is off the ground, though, the book suffers from one of my main criticisms of the Trek books (though I think many fans disagree with me, which is why it will never change). Each story brings in some known element of Trek lore (usually a character or a race), ostensibly to give some sort of identification to the reader (like we don't know already that it's a Trek book?). These elements are usually contrived and really drag the book down in my estimation, unless they're used well. Unfortunately, that's not usually the case here. Tobin Dax's story ("Dead Man's Hand" by Jeffrey Lang) brings in the Romulans. Emony Dax's story ("Old Souls" by Michael Jan Friedman) has Dr. McCoy from the original series (though it is actually established in the television series that Dax had an encounter with him, so at least it's not coming out of left field), Audrid's story ("Sins of the Mother" by S.D. Perry) has Captain Christopher Pike, of the old Enterprise. Finally, Torias's story ("Infinity" by Susan Wright) has Captain Styles and Cadet Saavik, from Star Trek III. While I applaud the fact that these aren't just name references but actual characters used, they still feel shoehorned into the stories for name recognition. There's no reason for Saavik to be in "Infinity", as she's never shown any inclination for experimental warp drives. The only one of the above stories where it actually makes sense to include the character is Friedman's, and that suffers from its own blandness. That's not to say the anthology isn't worth reading. With the above caveat, it actually is quite an entertaining read. The stories are interesting (especially the Curzon story, "The Music Between the Notes," by Steven Barnes) and the framing sequence is really good. Ezri spent the entire final season of the television show very unsure of herself and her role as a joined Trill (she never wanted to be joined, and had no preparation) and her heart-to-hologram talk with Vic Fontaine (the holographic lounge singer) is very well-done. His holographic sentience gives him a unique perspective on her problems, and it's a very good lead-in to the story of Dax through the years. There was even an intriguing use of Verad, the Trill who stole the Dax symbiont from Jadzia for a few hours. There really isn't a bad story in the bunch, though a couple of the stories suffer from being relatively uninteresting. It's a shame that Friedman's story is one of those, as it had the most potential. Seeing Dax's meeting with McCoy should have been wonderful, but instead it was "ok." The writing was a bit stiff and it didn't really fit into the conceit of Ezri telling a story to Vic. Instead, it was a lesson for McCoy about dealing with interstellar species (this is in his Academy days). Also, it is told from McCoy's point of view, going directly against the concept of the anthology. I greatly enjoyed The Lives of Dax, and I think it would be a wonderful addition to a Trek book collector's shelf. If you've ever wondered about Dax and her past lives, you owe it to yourself to pick this one up. If you're thinking of starting some of the Trek books, it's a good place to get a sampling of some of the big names in Trek today and to see if they're writing is your cup of tea. My previous host's memories tell me that you'll like it. David Roy
Rating:
Summary: Loving the slug inside you
Review: One of the more interesting characters in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is a Trill named Dax. Trills are humanoids who are hosts to slug-like being called a symbiont. In a process called "the joining," Trills have the symbiont implanted and they become not just the person they were, but also a sum of memories that can go back hundreds of years. There were two "Dax" characters in Deep Space Nine, with Jadzia Dax being killed in season 6 and Ezri serving as an emergency host. It's a great honour to be a host, but not everybody is anxious to be one. I've always been fascinated by the Dax character, even when the actresses weren't quite up to the part. The show would occasionally have references to previous hosts through the centuries, and I often wondered what some of their stories might be, especially during the time of the original series and movies. Marco Palmieri shared this feeling, and he decided to create a short story anthology addressing this issue. He gathered some of the big names in Trek fiction and created The Lives of Dax. Each of the previous Dax hosts gets one story, showcasing their personality and a little bit of their history. The stories are pretty good, though none of them are particularly earth-shattering. It's a nice, cozy tome that will bring a bit of nostalgia to any DS9 fan. Some of the more interesting stories take place early in Dax's life, before Trill became acquainted with the outside universe. The first one (not counting the beginning of the framing story) is about Lela Dax, a new member of the Trill council and one of the advocates for opening Trill up for trade with other galactic races. A ship has approached Trill and sent a message that the Trill are having trouble translating. It appears that the ship is in trouble, and they are ignoring all warnings from Trill that they must leave orbit. Lela decides that she has to help, despite what the council says. She discovers, and demonstrates to the rest of the council, that knowledge is not only power, but that the lack of it can be deadly as well. "First Steps" is by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and starts the anthology off with a bang. Once this story is off the ground, though, the book suffers from one of my main criticisms of the Trek books (though I think many fans disagree with me, which is why it will never change). Each story brings in some known element of Trek lore (usually a character or a race), ostensibly to give some sort of identification to the reader (like we don't know already that it's a Trek book?). These elements are usually contrived and really drag the book down in my estimation, unless they're used well. Unfortunately, that's not usually the case here. Tobin Dax's story ("Dead Man's Hand" by Jeffrey Lang) brings in the Romulans. Emony Dax's story ("Old Souls" by Michael Jan Friedman) has Dr. McCoy from the original series (though it is actually established in the television series that Dax had an encounter with him, so at least it's not coming out of left field), Audrid's story ("Sins of the Mother" by S.D. Perry) has Captain Christopher Pike, of the old Enterprise. Finally, Torias's story ("Infinity" by Susan Wright) has Captain Styles and Cadet Saavik, from Star Trek III. While I applaud the fact that these aren't just name references but actual characters used, they still feel shoehorned into the stories for name recognition. There's no reason for Saavik to be in "Infinity", as she's never shown any inclination for experimental warp drives. The only one of the above stories where it actually makes sense to include the character is Friedman's, and that suffers from its own blandness. That's not to say the anthology isn't worth reading. With the above caveat, it actually is quite an entertaining read. The stories are interesting (especially the Curzon story, "The Music Between the Notes," by Steven Barnes) and the framing sequence is really good. Ezri spent the entire final season of the television show very unsure of herself and her role as a joined Trill (she never wanted to be joined, and had no preparation) and her heart-to-hologram talk with Vic Fontaine (the holographic lounge singer) is very well-done. His holographic sentience gives him a unique perspective on her problems, and it's a very good lead-in to the story of Dax through the years. There was even an intriguing use of Verad, the Trill who stole the Dax symbiont from Jadzia for a few hours. There really isn't a bad story in the bunch, though a couple of the stories suffer from being relatively uninteresting. It's a shame that Friedman's story is one of those, as it had the most potential. Seeing Dax's meeting with McCoy should have been wonderful, but instead it was "ok." The writing was a bit stiff and it didn't really fit into the conceit of Ezri telling a story to Vic. Instead, it was a lesson for McCoy about dealing with interstellar species (this is in his Academy days). Also, it is told from McCoy's point of view, going directly against the concept of the anthology. I greatly enjoyed The Lives of Dax, and I think it would be a wonderful addition to a Trek book collector's shelf. If you've ever wondered about Dax and her past lives, you owe it to yourself to pick this one up. If you're thinking of starting some of the Trek books, it's a good place to get a sampling of some of the big names in Trek today and to see if they're writing is your cup of tea. My previous host's memories tell me that you'll like it. David Roy
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